Impunity is abducting and murdering more than 50 people in broad daylight.

Impunity is having 100 armed men, many in uniform, together with local government and police officials, abducting and murdering more than 50 people in broad daylight.

It is the use of heavy equipment equipment to dig mass graves ahead of the abduction and mass murder.

Impunity is burying the murdered persons together with their vehicles in the hopes that they will never be found anyway.

It is the seemingly carefree use of a government-owned back-hoe to cover up a heinous crime, notwithstanding the fact that the name of the provincial governor appears prominently on the said equipment.

Impunity is the declaration that no witnesses will be left alive, whether they are part of the convoy or just passing motorists minding their own business.

It is the utter disregard for the lives of women, lawyers and journalists. It is the thought that you can actually win elections by simply eliminating your rivals even before they can actually contest the position.

Impunity is being able to meet and have your picture taken with a senior government official a day after you and your family were implicated in a mass murder.

Impunity is not having to fear immediate arrest even if you’re considered by the police and military as the prime suspect in a massacre.

Impunity is the government saying we have a healthy democracy despite having more than 1,000 victims of extrajudicial killings, more than 200 abductions and the systematic murder of activists and the continuing killings of journalists.

Impunity is the denial of justice for hundreds of cases of extrajudicial killings in a span of just nine years despite domestic and international condemnation.

Impunity is what the Arroyo government has cultivated throughout its term, either by directly sanctioning the killings or by just being indifferent to the plight of the victims.